


First Task

by todays_keysmash_is



Category: Life of the Party D&D (Web Series)
Genre: Mentor fic!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:49:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25166479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/todays_keysmash_is/pseuds/todays_keysmash_is
Summary: Citra, Alexander, and Lorakai watch over the First Task.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	First Task

Citra, Alexander, and Lorakai headed quickly back up the stairs, hurrying to the carriage as the three students dressed and gathered up their scattered supplies. The carriage went off immediately, rushing them up and along to the Mentor’s Room. Citra had always disliked this part of the labyrinth, considering it a major design flaw, but Lorakai thought it was quite a bit of fun to try and race to the Mentor’s Room before the students pushed through the first door.

The carriage brought them dutifully around the side of the hill that held the labyrinth, leading them to an innocent looking patch of dirt and rock. Swiftly exiting the carriage, Citra flicked her hand, and the entrance to the hidden room was revealed.

They filed in just in time to see Pandora cast a preemptive protection spell around herself as the others finished gathering their gear.

“Aha!” Lorakai grinned, stifling another yawn. “We haven’t missed anything good yet. Did you see that, Alexander? Mark one down for defensive strategy, right there!”

Alexander gave a little smile at Lorakai’s enthusiasm, and took a seat after the three had gathered the parchment and other grading supplies provided on a small table nearby.

_ Icarus put his hands on both of his teammate’s shoulders. “We got this, don’t worry.” _

_ “Oh!” Pandora blinked rapidly. “I feel invigorated.” _

“I know what that is!” Lorakai pointed with his quill, leaning back in his chair. “Guidance magic. You just watch, he’s going to be throwing that all over the place, I bet.”

Citra raised a brow at her fellow mentor. “You know that the use of that spell alone isn’t enough to justify points, right?”

“I know, I know. But hey, no harm in it, and this kid never gets tired of it. You just wait, trust me.”

The three of them settled back into their seats to watch, picking at the small bits of breakfast they had been able to pack along. The labyrinth usually didn’t take longer than a few hours, and Citra was confident enough in her student that she hadn’t felt the need to pack a lunch. Alexander thought about doing so as well, but he had made the mistake of overconfidence in one student before, and found himself absolutely starving as the clock had marched on for a full ten hours. Delphos was a bit old fashioned in their grading style, and no mentor was allowed to leave the proctoring room until the task had been completed.

Loraki had forgotten his lunch on the kitchen table that morning, but he wouldn’t be awake enough to realize for another two hours.

The Mentor’s Room had been built around the time the labyrinth had been acquired by the school. The architecture was certainly more modern than the maze, but it was still rather old, and a bit dank. Overall, the conditions of the labyrinth’s Mentor Room were rather drab, and not at all as nice as some of the proctoring rooms that accompanied other tasks. Though there were plenty of other tasks set in various ancient ruins, most of the accommodations for exam proctors were a bit cozier. It seemed, unfortunately, that the labyrinth’s was the last on the long list to be renovated.

The room itself had no windows for the purpose of secrecy from the outside observer, and it was only about a 30x30ft square, with simple torches in each corner. Lorakai frowned as his mind lingered on what Icarus’s reaction might be to sitting in this room for any length of time, but he shook the worry from his thoughts. The labyrinth was less than ideal for Icarus, to be sure, but he would be okay. The paths were a bit narrow in places, but as long as he had the ability to keep moving, the kid would be alright.

Other than the small table with parchment and writing supplies, the torches on the dark stone walls, and the light scattering of wooden chairs, the room was completely empty except for the Map. Task Maps were scaled replicas of specific exams, imbued with various forms of magic to ease the grading process. Though every task was different, and a few even allowed for mentors to watch directly, most required a Map.

The Map for the labyrinth was one of the more impressive ones, filling almost half the room on a rather large wooden table. Various little carved figures strolled through the maze walls, enchanted to mimic the movements of the many creatures lurking below them in the real maze. Three golden points lit up at the start of the maze, signifying the positions of the three scrying bracelets. From those points, the images of their students were projected out and made larger, stretching well into the air. The tops of their student’s heads rose about two feet above the replica as the small golden beads moved their images ever so slowly around the first rooms. It was a similar magic to the illusion spells many of the mages at Delphos were taught, but it was an advanced form of the magic in which the illusion copied reality in real time, allowing their mentors to lean back and enjoy the show.

The students had already set about exploring the other rooms to find out how to get through the fire blocking their way. Mayes picked the lock to one of the side doors with ease, and Citra gave an approving nod to the floating image of her student.

The trio examined the room, and found a book in Abyssal. It was a relic from the original labyrinth, and not actually relevant to the task itself, but Pandora had advised her team to keep it in case it was important later.

“I had a feeling she would be the type to gather as many items as possible, just in case,” Alexander chuckled.

“It’s a smart move,” Citra replied.

“Oh, no, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing at all. It's actually rather…” he trailed off, not sure what word he was looking for. He tried to find an appropriate synonym for  _ endearing _ , and came up empty. “It just fits her personality.”

Lorakai hadn't been listening. The trio had discovered a small tunnel in the first door, and his eyes were locked on Icarus. As the three decided not to crawl through just yet, he let out a small breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding.

Mayes picked another lock, and Citra’s chin moved slightly again.

Lorakai pointed to the image of his student. “Guidance again,” he announced. “I called it.”

Citra glanced over to him. “Appreciated, though Mayes would have been just fine, I’m sure.”

“Oh, sure, I’m sure too,” he waved a reassuring hand in her direction. “He just loves that spell, really. Could make a drinking game out of it, if I was twenty years younger.”

“And if you weren’t employed in a professional capacity to administer final exams.”

Lorakai considered a retort, but he relented. Though he did think Citra was a bit uptight, there was no need to be confrontational about it. She was certainly quite intelligent, she just had her own way of doing things that didn’t match well with Lorakai’s teaching style. That was fine, different students responded to different approaches, and he didn’t hold any grudges against her.

That said, he was reminded of how Icarus had confided in him earlier of his doubts, and how a bunch of idiot students had tried to start something about it. The kid had earned his place, but there were a few who didn’t believe it, and now, Lorakai wondered if there were a few teachers who were doubtful as well. He trusted the other two mentors in the room, to some degree, but he had only just met them. There was no way to be sure.

He decided to reel in his usual personality a bit. Though there was nothing wrong with a mentor cheering on their student, Lorakai found himself becoming a bit more aware of it. He thought it would have been hilarious to shout out every time Icarus used Guidance, but now, that seemed a bit much. He didn’t want anyone to accuse him of being unprofessional.

He sat up a bit straighter, but quietly, he marked two tally marks in the upper corner of his paper. Smiling, he made a bet with himself: if the tally reached double digits, he’d buy himself a drink tonight.

On the Map, Pandora and Mayes were going back and forth about what to do with the silent sarcophagus.

Citra’s eyes flicked between the two as she muttered to herself. “Come on, Mayes…”

In the end, Mayes gave in to Pandora’s request, and knocked on the sarcophagus. The three mentors leaned back a bit in their chairs as the Map let out a replica shriek, though much quieter than the one their students had endured.

Ironically, Mayes was fine, but Pandora went down instantly. Alexander jumped to his feet, hurrying over to look directly down into the Map and get an aerial view of the exact location of each golden dot. As he looked down, his head sort of phased through the projections, interrupting the view slightly.

Lorakai held out a hand. “She’s fine, she’s fine!”

Alexander glanced over to him, and Lorakai pointed up. The larger images above the Map showed Icarus holding the tiefling, her eyes fluttering back open. Alexander sighed, and backed up into his seat. “Thanks. Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting something like that to happen in a situation without active combat.”

Lorakai nodded, looking over the younger man for a moment. “It’s alright. My kid is a healer, so, he can buy us a bit more time in an emergency situation. You don’t want to go down there unless you have to, or it’s over.”

“I know.”

Students could request to be removed from a task, but it would result in an automatic failing grade. In addition, in a life threatening situation, mentors could touch a spot on the Map to be instantly transported inside. However, requiring the aid of a mentor in a combat situation was also considered an automatic failure. It was a challenging line to walk, letting your student lie unconscious in the middle of a task and judging the likelihood that they would be able to get back up. As far as any of them knew, it was true that students didn’t die during final exams, though there was a bit of gossip amongst the professors about students who had endured a few broken bones and the like. Alexander hadn’t seen a problem with it before, as Icarus seemed to be quite a capable healer on his own, but he suddenly found himself second guessing the decision for the team to proceed without a student from the House Anterus.

The students found the lever to stop the fire, and proceeded forwards into the maze. As the students went along, three quills scratched in silence, with a few minor discussions breaking out about point allocation.

Mayes touched the cyclops idol.

Lorakai swore under his breath. “Damn.”

Alexander sighed and shook his head.

Citra pursed her lips almost imperceptibly. “Mark that off, then. It’s mostly on Mayes, but neither of the others stopped them.”

The men frowned but complied, scribbling down onto the parchment.

Citra tilted her head, watching the trio with thoughtful expression. “Too bad it wasn’t Pandora.”

Alexander blinked, and looked up at her. “What?”

“Well, she can see in the dark quite easily. If she had touched it, it wouldn’t have been as much of an issue.”

Alexander gave a slow nod, understanding the logic of it, but not appreciating how the comment had been phrased.

Citra seemed to have caught on to his discomfort. “Obviously I don’t wish harm on any of our students, Alexander. I’m just thinking strategically. But no matter, they weren’t to know the effects anyway, seeing as they didn’t try to check.”

Alexander relaxed a bit more. He was being silly, of course, it was ridiculous of him to have behaved as if she was somehow threatening his student. It was simply a tactical observation.

Pandora would be fine.

Lorakai squinted at the projections. “Why is Mayes leading?”

Citra looked back up from her papers. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing, just… Mayes said they wanted to be in front still.”

“Did the curse not take?”

“No, it definitely did, they were talking about it as you two were chatting… They just… wanted to lead, I guess.”

Citra watched the trio walk for a minute, and then marked something down onto the “Additional Comments” section of the rubric.

Pandora found the animal horns, visions flashing across her mind. As she brought her hand back from the scorching heat, she seemed unharmed. Alexander smiled a bit. Tiefling resistance. Though they hadn’t checked for traps or arcane artifacts in the room, it couldn’t be counted against her for relying on natural defensive abilities. He glanced over to Lorakai. Good thing Pandora had volunteered for it, rather than the triton boy.

The three wandered around a bit with a blind leader, finding themselves pacing in a circle. With a sigh, Mayes gave the order for Pandora to lead instead.

Lorakai tapped his cane in thought. “Your kid really is a natural leader, Citra. Good on you.”

“My student is highly skilled, but I may have to discuss this odd moment with them later.”

Lorakai nodded, but his mind had fixated on her wording. Had she emphasized the word  _ student  _ as opposed to  _ kid? _ Was it some kind of dig at his relationship with Icarus? Or was his mind just imagining things, being hypersensitive to this ridiculous problem that really wasn’t a problem at all? Damn, their conversation over tea really must have stuck into his mind more than he realized.

Lorakai shook away his thoughts once more, and refocused. Glancing at his Guidance tally, he smiled a bit. The number was higher.

Suddenly, one of the golden beads blinked away, reappearing in another part of the maze as the holographic form of Pandora above moved with it. Lorakai looked over to Alexander, half expecting him to be worried again, but he was sporting a grin.

“Something you want to share with the class?” Lorakai teased. “Setting off traps isn’t usually something to smile about.”

“I know,” Alexander conceded. “And she’s probably rather startled, it’s a bit rude of me to be excited but… Oh, you know. As important as it is to develop good team building skills, I have to admit I was hoping she would step on one of those. Have a chance at a solo moment, you know? She’s resourceful, she’ll be alright. I have full confidence in her.”

Pandora began excitedly tapping the hippocampus idol as Alexander chuckled quietly to himself.

“Kind words indeed. But, you do realize, neither of ours can see in the dark?” Lorakai gave a teasing grin, pointing a quill between Citra and himself. “Scratch that, neither of ours can see in the dark, and one of ours can’t see in the light either,” he aimed the tease over to Citra.

Citra didn’t seem to react, but Alexander appeared suddenly apologetic. “Oh, you’re right, I’m so sorry…”

Lorakai waved him off. “Kidding, kidding. At least this lot had the sense to bring a torch or two. You know how many tasks I’ve proctored where where not a single one in the bunch thought to bring a lantern? Too many.”

The last two words were overlapped by the other mentors, chorusing their agreement and mild exasperation for students of the past.

Alexander stood up and walked around the Map, setting himself back down in a chair closer to the new location of his student. Almost immediately, Pandora purposefully stepped on another teleportation tile. With a sigh, and a bit of a laugh from Lorakai, Alexander got up and walked around the table to find yet another chair.

Suddenly, Lorakai started full-belly laughing. Alexander looked up, about to defend himself, but the man wasn’t laughing at his struggle to find the right chair. Looking across the table to the holograms of the other students, it appeared that Icarus was attempting to scale the walls by doing some kind of vertical crabwalk. Alexander let out a bit of a chuckle as the triton began to slowly slide back down to the floor.

Citra closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead with her thumb and index finger, but she seemed grateful when Mayes declined the triton’s offer to boost them up to try the same strategy.

The pair walked for a bit more until they came across a bit of writing. “Hey! We got a clue over here!” Lorakai pointed, grinning over to Alexander.

“Over here too,” Alexander smiled back.

“Oh really? Which one?”

“The center room.  _ Extinguish the light to bring me to life.” _

“Oh oh, right, right. Of course. We got the coin one over here.”

Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from below them.

Alexander blinked, a bit embarrassed that he himself had forgotten that little trap. “Oops… That’ll be the tripwire.”

He scribbled onto the page.

After a few more minutes, the three appeared to be reunited. Lorakai pumped his fist, and Alexander got up to switch chairs again.

“Not so fast,” Citra warned. “There’s a trap tile between them.”

Alexander leaned over to get a closer view of the gold beads. Although the much larger projections coming out of the glowing beads appeared to paint a picture of the three teammates reunited, a closer inspection of the exact locations of the students revealed that Pandora was still on the far end of the hall, calling down to her teammates on the other side. Alexander sighed, opting to stand until he could be certain of Pandora’s location.

Luckily, Icarus identified the trap, and the group had passed over without a problem. Lorakai grinned, marking it down.

The trio went on to the puzzle room in the center of the maze, standing around for a bit before deciding there was more exploring to be done first. Icarus took one step, and the gold bead vanished.

Lorakai chuckled, giving Alexander a look. “Now it’s my kid’s turn for a solo act.”

He got up, leaning on his cane as he walked the length of the Map, searching for a more convenient chair. He took a moment to sit down and get comfortable before glancing back up again, only to see his kid’s face drawn back in fear. Lorakai’s expression tensed as he peered down into the replica of the maze to see exactly where the kid had ended up.

Realizing what had happened, he swallowed, and looked back up. The illusions of the students weren’t life sized, but they were still a good two feet tall, and every little bit of the kid’s terrified expression was on display for all to see.

“The auditory illusion just triggered for these two,” Alexander reported on the other side of the table. “The call for help.”

Lorakai wasn’t listening. “Come on, kid, come on…”

Icarus grabbed a bone from the floor of the cell, breaking it and shoving the sharp point into the lock. It was no use.

Mercifully, Alexander and Citra didn’t seem to be watching his kid. As Icarus’s torch slowly burnt away to nothing, the crystal minotaur made its first attack. The other mentors seemed invested in the quest to pursue the minotaur, and they didn’t seem to be paying much mind to Icarus.

_ “Come on, please, please. Please, let me out. Please. I promise I promise I promise I promise please please please let me out,” the boy begged. _

Gods, Lorakai’s heart was breaking for the kid. He set his jaw, and took a deep breath. “You can do this,” he mumbled. “I know it’s hard, but you’re strong. You  _ can _ do this.”

After about ten minutes, Icarus snapped from his trance and forced open the door. Lorakai let out a long breath, and he leaned heavily forwards on the table.

On the other side, Alexander and Citra shared a look. The minotaur was exciting, but it had been impossible for them to ignore the cries from the other side of the maze. Alexander remained silent, trying to be polite about it, but Citra spoke. “Lorakai? What’s been going on over on your side? We were a bit distracted over here, had a run in with the minotaur.”

Lorakai blinked, as if he had forgotten the others were there. “What? Oh, uh… Nothing much. Got himself stuck in a cell, finally managed to blast the door open before he had to run from the skeletons and such. Had a bit of a run in with some of the ghostly hands around this spot,” he pointed to a dead end on the Map, “But wasn’t hurt. I was going to dock a point or two for running around like that, but the kid didn’t hit a single trap, the lucky bastard. He’s in the central room now, waiting.”

Lorakai chuckled a bit, giving the other two a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Citra gave a curt nod. “Good. The others are on their way to the center now.”

Alexander turned his gaze to Citra, questioning, but she continued facing resolutely forwards. Perhaps she wasn’t as cold as she seemed.

As the trio reunited in the center room once more, Icarus beamed at the others, greeting them with enthusiasm. While Lorakai’s last smile had failed to light his eyes, Icarus seemed to deliver a different variety of the same expression. It was as if his eyes were overcompensating, his entire face lit up and practically bursting with joy. It was a comforting sight to his allies, but to the mentors who knew what had happened moments prior, the dissonance was rather disturbing. 

The mentors spent a few more minutes in silence, scratching down notes as the trio went off to continue their exploring once more. The students managed to find the iron key, as well as another tunnel. Lorakai frowned again.

As Pandora and Mayes went through, Icarus took it upon himself to find the long way around. This time, it was impossible for the other mentors to pretend not to notice.

“He didn’t alert the others,” Citra pointed out.

Lorakai kept his eyes on Icarus, not looking at Citra or even the parchment as he somehow managed to scribble down a note. Flicking his eyes downwards into the Map, he was relieved to see it was basically a straight shot around to the others. Except, there was a trap in the way.

“Fuck, fuck, there’s a trap,” he grumbled, growing agitated. “There’s a trap, he’s going to walk right into it. Damn it!”

“It’s okay,” Alexander raised a hand, trying to calm the older man down. “Traps only take off a point or two. He can come back from that, no big deal.”

Lorakai shook his head, and suddenly, Icarus’s projected form was pinned in place by a surprise net. Lorakai seemed primed to let out a much louder swear, but Citra interrupted him.

“Mayes is there. They’ve got him, it’ll only be a minute. And... he’s out. Hm, record time,” Citra gave another pleased nod. “I’d argue that Mayes just made up that point Icarus lost,” she scribbled onto her notes.

Lorakai blinked in surprise, not expecting the rescue to happen so quickly. He nodded back, a bit embarrassed that he had shown himself like that over one small trap, but the experience with the cells earlier had his nerves on high alert.

In fact, he was so distracted that he didn’t notice Mayes pass over a certain shield to the boy moments later.

“They’re preparing for combat,” Citra warned, standing from her seat. “Get ready.”

The three mentors stood around the edge of the maze, as close to the glowing beads as they could. It was standard procedure for mentors to stand in ready position during combat, in case they needed to swoop in and provide emergency aid.

As the battle against the mass of bones commenced, Lorakai’s mood began to lighten a bit. He raised a brow at Icarus’s spiritual weapon, smiling to himself. The kid was doing well, landing many solid hits, and it was clear that he was starting to feel himself again. Citra was also moving her chin slightly every few moments, which the other two were starting to recognize as a sign of approval.

Alexander was a bit more on edge. He knew she could manage these spells, Pandora was unbelievably talented, but she was getting in her head about it. The more she got in her head, the more she would miss. The more she would miss, the more she would get in her head.

But then, she hit it. Alexander beamed as Icarus and Mayes cheered her on, but his smile was quickly replaced with deep concern as Pandora went to the floor.

Lorakai held out an arm. “Wait for Icarus.”

Alexander nodded, and in the next second, Icarus had pulled the tiefling up again. A bit disoriented, her next spell missed, but the one after hit dead on. Alexander let his head roll back in relief as he sighed.

“There she goes!” Lorakai clapped a hand on the other man’s back. “You should be proud. That’s the killing blow, big points for that.”

Alexander grinned. “Well, not technically the killing blow,” he motioned to the tiny carved pile of bones, rearranging themselves into a group of skeletons just as the real ones in the maze below were.

“Eh,” Lorakai shrugged. “They were undead to begin with. I think that deserves some leniency with  _ killing blow _ .”

Citra folded her arms. “He’s correct. Delphos ruled that the final blow against each form of an undead creature is considered a killing blow, seeing as the enemy was already dead. Living creatures don’t usually have multiple forms.”

“Nice one,” Lorakai grinned, cocking a brow. “The fine print is on our side. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?”

They headed back to their seats as Icarus ordered the remaining skeletons to leave. The corpses were still wandering around the maze, but as the triton had put it, that would be a problem for later.

The trio headed back to the center of the maze to take a rest, discussing the puzzle pieces they had found so far and theorizing about the origins of the labyrinth. They had only been in the maze for about an hour, and they had made excellent progress. It was still nowhere near the time Lorakai usually liked to get up, but his heart was definitely pumping now.

After a rest, the three began working on the puzzle with the stone chest. Icarus lifted Mayes once, twice, and three times all the way up on his hands. It was rather impressive, the kid was pretty strong. After a bit of teamwork, the puzzle was solved.

“That was brilliant all around,” Lorakai declared. “Pandora with that darkness spell? Very clever. I know Mayes didn’t get the chance to show off a bit of blind lockpicking, but I believe they could’ve done it.”

“They can,” Citra replied. “But yes, points all around for that, I expect. Excellent display of teamwork skills, not to mention individual talents,” she gave a nod to Alexander.

Alexander sat a bit straighter in his chair, his pride plain on his face. “It was clever, wasn’t it…”

“Of course, it’ll be the gas now. Let’s see if they get a move on.”

The smallest bit of white smoke began filling the replica of the maze, creeping towards the center room. By the time the three students noticed it, it was almost waist high in the hallways. They got a bit lost, finding another locked door where they stopped for a moment and discussed what to do about the smoke.

Though the smoke wasn’t always used, students usually became very creative with this obstacle. There were a variety of interesting spells that could be used to dispel the gas, as well as a few rather amusing strategies that involved crawling very close to the ground to try and make out the traps.

Suddenly, Icarus pulled a shield from his back, and waved it in front of him.

The gas wafted away.

The triton grew a large, goofy grin, and did it again.  _ “Waft!” _ he announced.

Lorakai laughed. “Now  _ that’s _ an innovation!”

Citra rolled her eyes.

“Aw, come on!” Lorakai grinned, watching Icarus waft his way down the hallway with glee. “Sure, it may not be the fanciest way to go about it, but it’s not using up any resources, and it conserves all their power and strength. As far as I’m concerned, this is brilliant.”

There had been a few students in the past with enough common sense to simply wave the smoke away with a large object, but none of them had ever done so with this much enthusiasm. It wasn’t the flashiest strategy, but Lorakai seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the show.

“You are, once again, technically correct,” Citra replied. “It doesn’t use any resources, and this task is very much centered on that theme. Go ahead and mark it down, I know you want to. We’ll discuss the exact point value later.”

Lorakai clapped his hands twice in celebration, and began to scribble onto the parchment. “Where did he get that shield, anyway?”

“Uh, I think it was taken from one of the earlier rooms,” Alexander replied. “Can’t recall which, though.”

“Huh, nice one.”

“Hopefully not one of the cursed items lying around.”

Lorakai returned with a teasing grin. “I don’t think a malicious  _ shield _ could do that much damage. Sword, maybe. Shield? Seems counterintuitive.”

The two chuckled a bit. Citra raised an eyebrow, glancing back over to the room where they had first picked up the shield, but didn’t say anything.

The trio travelled back to the entrance on a mission to explore the tunnel they had failed to examine earlier. Mayes and Pandora crawled through the tunnel, and this time, so did Icarus. Lorakai was relieved, and a bit proud, but he knew there was more work to be done. He was going to have to talk to the kid about it.

Citra pursued her lips a bit when Mayes failed to identify the trap on the statue guarding the next key, but once again, Pandora’s natural resistance to fire saved the group from losing any major points.

A few minutes later, Citra amused herself watching the other two mentors on the edges of their seats, urging their students to touch the phoenix statue for themselves when Mayes reported that the idol had no effect. It was entertaining for a few moments, but of course, her student had realized the possibility of a magical effect and passed off the idol to the others.

As they moved towards the center, Lorakai noticed a miniature carved figure heading the same way. “They’re headed straight for the big one again. I’ll guard just in case, but I don’t think this’ll be a full on fight just yet.”

He stood, lifting himself from the chair and walking over to stand in the ready position. But it was just as he had expected, and the minotaur fled as soon as it had landed a hit.

“Oho! He did hit it back though,” Lorakai grinned, noting it down as he returned to his seat.

Citra gave a half nod, too focused on her own student to respond. Mayes was shaming the creature for cowardice again, and she couldn’t help but agree.

The three continued on, having made excellent progress in just over an hour. Lorakai glanced at his Guidance tally and grinned. It was steadily climbing towards the double digit goal.

As they navigated through, Pandora offered to use a spell that would grant her the ability to see anything invisible in order to avoid traps. Alexander smiled again, scribbling down onto the rubric. “She’s prepared for everything. Really excellent spellwork so far.”

Lorakai was about to offer a similar sentiment when Pandora screamed.

The three mentors were a bit surprised, as there hadn’t been any enemies nearby, but they leapt into a ready position as they searched the Map for the danger.

_ “There’s something on Mayes!” Pandora cried. “There’s something on Mayes’s back!” _

_ Mayes gave her a look and began patting down their upper body. “No… I’m good.” _

_ “No, it's like, its got its arms around your neck, and it’s holding… Oh Gods, it’s awful! It’s something that’s like, not on… Not on the material plane. It’s like something… Something that used to be here but isn’t, or like, shouldn’t be here- ” _

_ “Can you, can you just stop talking?” Mayes grimaced. “Can you, can you do that for me?” _

_ “I’m, I’m sorry!” _

Alexander frowned. “Is that a new addition? I wasn’t briefed on that. Did we miss them touching an idol, perhaps?”

_ “Shh,” _ Citra held out a finger, sharply cutting him off. She was listening intently as the scene played out in front of them.

_ Mayes was still rubbing their arms, looking uncomfortable. “Um, what does it… look like?” _

_ Pandora gulped. “Um, this is really gross but it's like… It’s a human of some sort but… Bits of it are gone like they’ve been eaten. Like something’s been chewing on its face and its neck, and its got one really horrible eye just watching me and…” she trailed off, noticing how Mayes was beginning to squirm. “I’m sorry Mayes! I’m sorry, this is really…” _

_ “Pandora, that doesn’t make any sense,” they shook their head. _

_ “I, I don’t know! It’s just what I’m seeing!” _

_ “She’s not gonna lie about that,” Icarus agreed. _

_ “Yeah, it’s…” Mayes shook their head. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, but… That doesn’t make any sense. Like… come on.” _

The trio discussed the issue a bit more as Citra stared. Alexander and Lorakai discussed the matter with each other in hushed tones, coming to the agreement that no, this wasn’t part of the task at all. After another minute, Citra folded her arms, and frowned at the floor.

“They said they had a back ache,” she mumbled.

Seconds later, the projection of Icarus echoed her.  _ “You said you had a back ache.” _

The three mentors remained standing for a bit before Lorakai returned to his seat. “Did you know about that, Citra? It sure isn’t a part of the test.”

Citra pursed her lips, and continued staring into the floor.

Lorakai sighed. “Well, I won’t pry, but… I wouldn’t want anything to happen to any of these kids. Talk it over with them yourself first, but… If you need anything, I’d be more than willing to help.”

“As would I, of course,” Alexander followed. “Anything at all.”

Citra didn’t look up at them, but her head turned just slightly enough to signify some level of acknowledgement. She still seemed very concerned about it.

“Just like your kid said,” Lorakai continued. “We can’t do anything about it right now, so for the moment, we keep moving.”

“Yes, my…” Citra trailed off, raising her head to look at the projections again. “Yes.”

Citra remained standing, as did Alexander, who was feeling a bit awkward about missing his chance to sit and now felt an obligation to continue to stand. As it turned out, the trio of students headed into another skirmish against another group of skeletons shortly after, and Lorakai was the one forced to join the others in standing.

Lorakai could still move around just fine, but at his age, sometimes his joints would give him a hard time about getting up and down too often. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of that involved for grading this task, and he found himself relying just a tad more than usual on his cane as he pushed himself to his feet once more.

The skeletons were easy enough for their students to defeat. Mayes made a few impressive shots with their crossbow, and though Citra dutifully marked it down on her rubric, she still seemed deep in thought.

A second threat was incoming.

“Behind you, behind you,” Alexander mumbled.

Of course, Pandora couldn’t hear him. The miniature carved figure representing the crystal minotaur swung out against one of the tiny golden beads, causing the projection of Pandora to flicker for a moment as she was hit.

But then, she hit back. She threw a spell over to the minotaur as it escaped, and it crashed into a wall before she turned back to the others.  _ “Can’t run away if it can’t see where it’s going,” she reasoned. _

Lorakai grinned. “Did she just…?”

“Blindness,” Alexander laughed. “Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.”

The students managed to land a few blows on it before the minotaur escaped once more, but the mentors were thoroughly impressed.

“Very creative,” Citra nodded. “And an excellent display of teamwork skills, of course.”

“Gods,” Lorakai chuckled, “Can you imagine, if they take this guy down before the final room? Wouldn’t that be a laugh…”

“I’ve never heard of anyone managing that before,” Alexander replied. “It would certainly be impressive, though a bit anticlimactic.”

The two men bantered back and forth for a bit as Citra sat with her parchment, checking over her work as the students navigated their way to another idol. Pandora’s ability to see the invisible allowed her to warn the others of the trap in front of it, and Mayes was able to successfully disable the glyph.

She noted that down, too.

The students continued on to the next room, and of course Icarus was the one to travel into the mirror. This time, Lorakai didn’t react. He hadn’t considered the possibility Icarus would end up in one of those cells, and seeing that had worried him. However, he was well aware of the mirror puzzle, and had already had some time to come to terms with the fact that Icarus would probably be the one most likely to volunteer to get stuck in there. He had reasoned with himself that it wouldn’t be too bad, as the room wasn’t suffocatingly small, and his allies would still be able to stick their heads through and speak to him.

Unfortunately, it was entirely possible that the experience earlier may have heightened Icarus’s sensitivities. But there wasn’t anything Lorakai could have done. He had wanted desperately to drop some kind of hint or warning about this puzzle beforehand, but it wasn’t worth cheating. Especially not with the apparent rumors about supposed favoritism between them.

A bit embarrassed from his outburst at the net trap earlier, Lorakai managed to keep a straight face in front of the other mentors this time. For the most part, Icarus did as well, idling around in the mirror room for a good few minutes before he started getting antsy. All things considered, he was able to figure out the riddle to escape rather quickly, and the task continued.

The trio of students moved on, grabbing a healing potion as they headed closer to the end. All three of the mentors agreed that it was quite impressive that Icarus had stood his ground against the iron bull illusion. There was a bit more wandering, as Icarus stood in the doorway while the other two searched the room with the cells, and they took a pit stop at the hippocampus idol before moving into the final few rooms.

Icarus was the one to take the challenge against the stone statue, of course, and he performed wonderfully. The success opened the secret compartment that revealed the cypher, and Citra chuckled a bit as Mayes’ eyes went wide over the discovery.

Finally, the moment came, and the three students each took a key to open the final door.

“Alright, it’s time,” Lorakai announced, hoisting himself to his feet yet again. “I would  _ not _ want to be that bull right now.”

The other two moved swiftly around the table to stand by his side, rubrics in hand, as the battle against the crystal minotaur began.

Citra noted that while Mayes specialized in melee combat, they were able to overcome the unique challenge the minotaur posed by using their crossbow, adapting into the ranged combat style required. Lorakai scribbled down that while Icarus did take quite a bit of a pounding in the fight, he mostly managed to distract it from attacking his allies.

Alexander was beaming throughout the entire fight. Even when the creature barreled into her, Pandora sent out a counterattack quite similar to the minotaur’s own, forcing red shards of magic into its body. Not only was her spellwork brilliantly formed to avoid hurting her allies, but she also took the honor of dealing the killing blow yet again.

Icarus ran to Pandora and spun her around as Mayes smiled a bit from the other side of the room. A similar scene played out in the Mentor’s Room as Lorakai slapped a hand on Alexander’s back, congratulating him as Citra grinned softly behind them.

“So,” Lorakai rolled his shoulders. “To the carriage, then?”

CItra gave him a side eye. “You know the answer to that.”

“Oh, come on. There’s nothing important left for them to really do anyway, besides grab a few coins.”

Citra frowned a bit, but didn’t reply.

“I know, I know,” Lorakai relented. “Pillars. Very important. I was teasing, it’s just that this room isn’t exactly the most comfortable…”

Alexander tapped the other man on the arm. “The cypher,” he murmured. “The other night, she was talking about how cyphers are like, their thing, remember?”

Lorakai blinked, and nodded. He had genuinely forgotten, he hadn’t meant for the “unimportant” comment to be malicious. “Right. Damn,” he muttered back.

He waited a few more minutes for the students to get on with the puzzle. Impressively, they solved it in a matter of minutes.

“You’re kid is a real whiz at that stuff,” Lorakai offered, attempting to apologize.

Citra noted something down on her rubric. “Mayes is an excellent student.”

Lorakai looked at her for a moment, considering her tone. She was hard to read, but he was fairly confident she had forgiven him.

Citra tucked the papers into her robes. “Alexander? If you’d like to do the honors?”

Alexander smiled, stepping forward. With a flourish, he produced a small ball of white light that settled into the final chamber of the maze, just behind the three glowing beads that signified their students.

He smiled, watching the projections of the trio talk amongst themselves for a bit before realizing the light had appeared behind them. “Well done, everyone.”

“That’s one down, two to go,” Lorakai nodded.

“Not including the written exams,” Citra reminded him.

“True, true. Something tells me they’ll be alright, though,” he chuckled, grinning one last time at the Guidance tally. He had hit the goal long ago. “Now let’s get out of this blasted room.”

The three tucked their papers away, filing out of the stone room as the entrance sealed up behind them, leaving no trace of the hidden space inside. Citra went to the front of the carriage to wake up their driver, who had been peacefully sleeping under a blanket and eagerly anticipating the double pay they would be receiving for working the long hours of a final exam.

The three of them settled into the carriage, and rode back down to await their students. As they did, Alexander put a hand in his bag, and realized that his lunch was still there, untouched. The students had breezed through in record time.

The carriage came to rest back at the entrance to the labyrinth, and they filed out to wait. After a few minutes, three dusty and bruised faces appeared at the stairway, grinning with excitement.

The mentors leaned back against the carriage and waved.

One step closer to graduation.


End file.
